Guyana pushing for historic 600,000 ounces in gold declarations

Oct 17, 2016 News

The Ministry of Natural Resources is motivating miners to push themselves to the limit so that history can be made in the gold mining sector.
At a recent press conference, Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman reminded that a few months ago, the government had moved to clamp down on smuggling activities. He said that this contributed to a success story in the mining sector.
The country stands to make a historic gold production target of over 600,000 ounces for the year.
“Gold continues to show strong performance. As of today we have crossed the 500,000-ounce mark and we hope to get to 600,000 by December 31st,” Trotman said.
He said the Ministry is in an accelerated drive to get miners to declare and work with the government to make the historic mark of 600,000 ounces.
The gold mining sector is excelling at a time when most of the nation’s revenue earners are plunged into trouble.
Finance Minister, Winston Jordan has said that Guyana is lucky that at least one sector is stepping up to the plate to hold the economy together.
He said he was asked to address the contention that the outstanding performance of the gold sector is masking an economic decline.
“They (the sectors) keep shifting. In the 70s it used to be bauxite which carried the economy and at that time I didn’t hear that it was a one-sector economy.” He noted too that sugar at one time carried Guyana.
According to the 2016 Mid-year report, the mining and quarrying sector grew by 65.7 percent during the first half of the year buoyed by significant growth in the gold industry and improved performance from the bauxite industry.
The report said that production in the gold industry reached 322,493 ounces during the first half of 2016, an increase of 94.3 percent over the same period in 2015.
Improved oversight of the industry and granting of concessions to the sector were among factors that contributed to an increase in output.

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